He was never much of a hitter in the minors, hitting over .250 only twice, in 1989 and 1990.

In 1986 with the Charlotte O's, Smith hit only .241 with five home runs and 34 RBI in 299 at-bats. He followed that with an even worse sophomore year, where he hit .231 with 2 home runs and 23 RBI in 290 at-bats, while splitting time between the O's and Rochester Red Wings.

He spent most of his 1988 season in Rochester, where he hit .230 in 101 games. On August 9 of that year, he was traded to the Brewers with fellow minor leaguer Kevin Rice for Tim Pyznarski. He finished out the season with the Brewers' Triple-A affiliate, the Denver Zephyrs. There, he hit .326 in 15 games. Overall, he batted .243 that year, with one home run and 28 RBI in 116 games.

Smith spent most of his 1989 season with the Brewers Double-A affiliate, the El Paso Diablos. with them, he hit .268 in 128 games. He also spent five games in Triple-A with Denver that year. In 13 at-bats with them, he collected only three hits for a .231 batting average. Combined, Smith hit .267 with three home runs and 62 RBI - the 62 RBI and batting average proving to be career highs, although in 1990, he would best his batting average high by hitting .275. 1989 would prove to be Smith's best season in the minors.

He played in only 94 games in 1990, all with Denver. He set a career high average-wise, hitting .275. He also hit a career high amount of triples - 6 - and tied his career high in home runs with five. He drove in 38 runs that year.

1991 would prove to be a poor year for D.L. Smith, as he hit only .213 with one home run and 22 RBI in 291 at-bats with the Zephyrs. 1991 was his final season in the Milwaukee Brewers system.

In an unknown transaction, Smith ended up in the Cleveland Indians system. Playing for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in 1992, Smith appeared in only 13 games that year, collecting eight hits in 33 at-bats for a .242 batting average. 1992 was his final season.